Bar Group Backs Pair For Judgeships

GLOUCESTER — The Middle Peninsula Bar Association on Monday endorsed Gloucester attorneys for two judgeships that will become vacant next month in the 9th Judicial Circuit.

Winning the endorsements were Commonwealth's Attorney William H. Shaw III to succeed General District Judge William T. Bareford, and William E. Moore to succeed Judge Herbert I.L. Feild on the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court bench, said Robert D. Hicks, secretary of the lawyers' group.

Feild, who has served in the post since 1974, will retire Jan. 1; Bareford, who served part-time in his position for five years before being appointed full-time in 1977, plans to step down Jan. 15.

The 9th Circuit includes the counties of Gloucester, Mathews, Middlesex, King and Queen, King William, York, James City, New Kent and Charles City, and Williamsburg and West Point.

Appointments to succeed Bareford and Feild will be made by the 1994 General Assembly, which traditionally honors the endorsements of the local bar associations. Following tradition, the two retired judges would sit as substitutes until their successors are named.

It is also tradition that because the new General District judge will sit in the Middle Peninsula courts and in New Kent, the York and Williamsburg-James City County bar associations would be expected to endorse Shaw as well.

The Colonial Bar Association, which was formed several years ago by lawyers in New Kent and Charles City counties and West Point, many of whom also belong to the Middle Peninsula group, is expected to make its endorsements Thursday.

The Juvenile and Domestic Relations judgeship is different, sitting in courts both on the Middle Peninsula and in York County. For that reason, the York and Williamsburg-James City County bar associations have endorsed York Commonwealth's Attorney Jake Smith.

Because of his prior endorsements, Smith was nominated along with Moore and Gloucester County Attorney Thomas R. Robinett, creating a three-way ballot for the 32 lawyers who attended the meeting in person, and the 10 proxy votes that were cast, said Hicks.

Hicks said neither of the three received a majority on the first ballot, so a second ballot was taken on the top two candidates. He declined to identify the vote tallies on either ballot at the closed meeting.

Nor would he reveal the vote results on the first ballot for the General District judgeship. Shaw, who won on that ballot, was opposed by Richard M. Foard, who shares a law practice with Moore.

Shaw, 48, has served as Gloucester County's chief prosecutor since 1979. He has two grown sons, and he and his wife Kathy have a 4-year-old daughter and are expecting a baby in April.

Eileen Addison, secretary of the York County Bar Association, and David W. Otey Sr., president of the Williamsburg-James City County lawyers' group, said they did not foresee any opposition to Shaw for the bench post. They said their respective groups probably would make their formal endorsements of the Gloucester prosecutor before the General Assembly begins its appointment process.

Moore, 49, a native of Gloucester, has practiced law in his home county for the past 20 years. He is a past president of the Middle Peninsula Bar Association, and served three years on the 1st Congressional District Ethics Committee, which disciplines lawyers. He and his wife, Martha, have three children.

He said after the meeting that while the Middle Peninsula group's endorsement in his case does not mean a virtual appointment to the bench, as it does in Shaw's, he was pleased with the outcome.